An individual's lower leg (e.g. foot and/or ankle) is prone to a variety of dysfunctions. For example, toes may break or joints may fail from wear or disease. A low leg injury may require surgical intervention to correct soft tissues. There are a variety of means by which ankles are injured and remedied and/or rehabilitated. For example, see Ankle injury mechanisms: lessons learned from cadaveric studies, Clinical Anatomy 24(3)350-361 (2011); Foot and Ankle Trauma collected in The Foot and Ankle (2004) Lippincott, all incorporated herein by reference. In most cases, rehabilitating an ankle or foot requires immobilization because broken bones must be held in place to properly heal. Surgery also requires a recovery period, sometimes of a long duration, where the patient's use of the foot and/or ankle needs to be restricted. For example, see Rehabilitation for the Postsurgical Orthopedic Patient (2013) Mosby, incorporated herein by reference.
Immobilization of the foot, ankle, or both is very inconvenient for a patient. As such, devices that can immobilize the joint while maintaining a patient's mobility are ideal. A variety of orthopedic devices, generally referred to as walking boots, are popular in that they sufficiently immobilize the foot and/or ankle for recovery but maintain patient mobility. For example, a controlled ankle motion (“CAM”) walking boot is often provided for patients as a lightweight alternative to a cast. In general, CAM boots are less disruptive to mobility and hygiene (as they can be taken off), and they accomplish the primary objective of immobilizing the foot and ankle to allow proper healing and prevent further injury. However because of their lighter weight design and focus on patient comfort, CAM boots fail to offer patients adequate protection from external forces, such as falling objections that may be encountered in various work or athletic environments (e.g., construction sites, warehouses, gyms, and so forth).